Surveillance Advisory Board approves community engagement and audit ad hoc committees

The Surveillance Advisory Board voted to create two ad hoc committees to carry out its updated work plan, approving the formation of a community engagement subcommittee and an audit subcommittee and adopting initial membership for both.

Board members raised the revised work plan as the culmination of months of drafting and ad hoc input. A board member said the work plan would not itself set policy but would guide the board’s commitments and policy development, including a separate facial recognition policy the board will consider later.

The board moved and approved a motion to form a community engagement framework ad hoc committee and then voted to approve the initial roster. The motion to create the engagement ad hoc passed on roll call. A separate motion to staff the engagement subcommittee also passed; one member stated they would abstain because they had not heard the roster read on the record.

Separately, the board voted to form an audit ad hoc committee to build a comprehensive surveillance-technology audit plan and to staff that subcommittee with initial volunteers. Members emphasized the need to work with city staff and finance to spell out any budget requests that the committee might recommend and suggested the audit committee include reporting requirements (for example, quarterly or semiannual reports) once it finishes the audit plan.

The board’s motions were procedural steps to move the work plan from drafting toward implementation. The Chair and staff said that, when the committees complete recommended policies or budget asks, those items may be presented to the City Council and that board attendance at council hearings is advisable.

The meeting adjourned after members suggested the audit ad hoc should return routine reports on audit findings to the full board once it is established.